Life and Love at my Level

When I was young, I spent eons of time at my Dad's meat locker plant. He was the owner, and mom was the book keeper/meat wrapper/hamburger stuffer/patty maker. And I was supervisor over all operations. However, I did spend a lot of time in the office trying to entertain myself until quitting time.  I remember mom always had a radio playing, and each day I would listen to Paul Harvey's The Rest of the Story. I thought it fitting to title my entry after Paul Harvey's keynote phrase. It was February 2018, and Chris was on his way for our first meeting and visit. He was scheduled to arrive late Friday night, but due to car trouble on the way he didn't get in until early Sunday morning. I will admit while he was coming up I had my doubts of whether or not he would actually show up. However, he persevered and arrived at the hotel just outside of town. I had lined up a friend who was willing to take me out to the hotel and meet him with me. We stationed my friend's husband...

Saturday, August 6, 2022 marked 3 months of being married. I realize for some that 3 months is merely a blip on the marriage spectrum, but I believe each month should be commemorated. I truly never believed that God had marriage in His plan for my life; of course, I always had a little hope and wishful thinking, but my disability always had a way of grounding me in reality. I have always had a firm hold on reality, maybe at times too firm of grasp. In essence, reality was my zone of protection; if I kept my my mind and thoughts in reality, I didn't allow myself to hope and dream of things that were not humanly possible for me to achieve. For example, if I allowed myself to dream of becoming a pilot, I would be crushed because reality tells me that I have no use of my limbs.  Yes, I realize that there are probably opportunities that I have missed because I have not dreamed bigger, but yet I have spared myself from a lot of disappointment and heartache too.  In late August of 20...

August is Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) awareness month.  It seems like every month has been designated for some special disease, cancer or rights these days, and if you are a member of Facebook, you can find a reason to celebrate every day-- Worldwide Ice Cream Day, No Underwear Day, National Eat Pizza Day and Sit On The Toilet Backwards Day (okay, the last one may be a bit of a stretch). I have had some inner conflict about whether or not to write this entry because I don't like calling attention to my disability; my disability calls enough attention to itself on its own.  However, I realize that there are many misconceptions and false facts out there about my disability, so maybe some accurate awareness and education can only be helpful.  I am not going to unpack all the scientific jargon that causes SMA, but SMA is a genetic disease. The disease only manifests itself when both parents are carriers of the gene (at least for my particular type of SMA). SMA falls under t...